Open to ideas for this one!

[djhollowman]

Hey all! Right, I've got a guitar which has H-H-H configuration, 3-way toggle switch, and 3 bodywork holes for pots. I've got three 500k push/pulls (along with the required capacitors to make them into either 1 or 2 tone pots). I tried to wire it like this: www.whirligigworld.co.uk/westone/wiringdynasty.html
but failed miserably! (BTW I realise that in this diagram the middle pickup is a single and I have HHH, but my middle H is actually a single-coil-sized humbie) What I want is for each pot and switch to do something, I want no "dead" controls. I'm not really interested in having the bridge humbie switched for phase reversal (as per the above link). Other than that I'm open to suggestions! The neck humbie can't be split, but the middle and bridge ones can. But as I'm relatively new to wiring I'd really need a specific diagram to work from. Thanks in advance!

[UnklMickey]

djhollowman said:

...I tried to wire it like this: www.whirligigworld.co.uk/westone/wiringdynasty.html
but failed miserably! ...

does that mean: it works, as intended, and afterwards you discovered that you're not happy with the choices that it gives you?

or

does that mean: it doesn't work, as intended?



unk

[CheshireCat]

djhollowman said:

Hey all! Right, I've got a guitar which has H-H-H configuration, 3-way toggle switch, and 3 bodywork holes for pots. I've got three 500k push/pulls (along with the required capacitors to make them into either 1 or 2 tone pots). I tried to wire it like this: www.whirligigworld.co.uk/westone/wiringdynasty.html
but failed miserably! (BTW I realise that in this diagram the middle pickup is a single and I have HHH, but my middle H is actually a single-coil-sized humbie) What I want is for each pot and switch to do something, I want no "dead" controls. I'm not really interested in having the bridge humbie switched for phase reversal (as per the above link). Other than that I'm open to suggestions! The neck humbie can't be split, but the middle and bridge ones can. But as I'm relatively new to wiring I'd really need a specific diagram to work from. Thanks in advance!

If you can manage one additional mini-toggle switch, do my UUSS Mod, using the three push-pulls for two splitters and a phase inverter (for the neck and middle pickup alternately, if you like). That will give you everything you want in spades and is highly intuitive, and as well as ergonomic. You also don't have any dead spots.

Chesh

[Mike Richardson]

What sort of selector switch does your guitar have?

[djhollowman]

Hi Unk - no, I tried to wire it exactly as per the diagram on the site but I found that I was just getting nowhere! I later discovered that the neck HB couldn't coil-tap cos I think one of the coils could be dead (I'm not sure about this!). But I decided that the final result wouldn't be what I really wanted anyway!

Hi Chesh - Just checked out your suggestion. It looks pretty complicated at first! Did you actually wire this up? If so, wow, you must get a huge range of tones! I think this is way beyond my needs (and, indeed, ability!) do you have anything....simpler I could try! I don't want to change the 3-way selector, and I'm not interested particularly in the phase inverting, but I do like the coil-tapping!

Hi Mike - the selector is a 3-way toggle, single pole double throw (I think!) Deffo 3 positions - 1,1+2,3 style; and it has 3 connector tabs on the rear.

[jhng]

Ok, to stick with what you've got how about the following:

Three-way toggle selecting for N, N+B, B;
One volume for the N and B;
One volume for M;
Tone for N and B;

Push/pull to coil-split N and B (outer coils only);
Push/pull to put N and B in series (bypassing the three-way);
Push/pull to coil-split M.

That should give a pretty wide range of useful options.

Oops...I just saw that you say the Neck can't be split, that's pretty limiting. Are you sure? If it's got all the right wires coming out of it, this would suggest something ain't right.

If the Neck really can't split, the above could be varied to have Bridge and Middle coil splits on one switch.

The remaining switch could be used for, say, moving the tone control from N and B to M (or just taking the tone control out of the circuit) which will give access to an extra bit of sparkle in some combos.

Hastings

[djhollowman]

Hi, thanks for that! Yeah, I like where you're going with the middle pickup here. Would I be right in thinking that by having its own dedicated volume that would negate the need for it to be switched? I mean, otherwise I was looking at having to use one of the push/pulls to turn the middle on and off; so I could use the separate volume AS the switch?? Sounds do-able!

Oops...I just saw that you say the Neck can't be split, that's pretty limiting. Are you sure? If it's got all the right wires coming out of it, this would suggest something ain't right.

Yeah, I'm not 100% certain about this! The humbie has a white wire, a red wire and an earth braid, which would suggest coil-split capability to me (since I have another guitar with pickups with the exact same wiring as that and they DO coil-split! The white goes to the split-switch and the red goes to the pickup selector) But I tried it and there was no output when switched one direction...if you see what I mean! Anyway, if I can get it to coil-split I can splice it into the bridge wiring arrangment. (Just had a thought....maybe it does work, just very quietly! Will investigate!)

Here's what I'm looking to achieve:

3-way toggle to select N,N+B,B
pot 1: master vol, pull to split B (and N later, if I can get it working!)
pot 2: tone for N and B, pull to switch on M
pot 3: tone for M, pull to split M

As you can see, this isn't much different to your suggestion Hastings. In fact, as I mentioned above, I may change my own layout to include your idea of using M with own vol pot!

Now, any chance someone could do me a diagram please??
I'm going to try and draw a diagram of what I've done, so that hopefully someone can show me where I'm going wrong. I've wired the guitar as described above already, but it isn't behaving as expected! Pot 2 doesn't change the tone at all, and the coil-split in pot 1 seems to work the wrong way (when switched to humb it sounds weaker, but I don't think it sounds like a single either cos it sounds hum-cancelling...strange...). The neck pickup sounds louder on its own than when it is selected along with the bridge. Pulling pot 2 to switch on M makes it all sound slightly quieter, when I would have expected more noise, especially when I have M in humbucking mode! This would be so much easier for you guys if I did a diagram of what I've done wouldn't it?? Will really try to!

Also, PLEASE, someone explain to me how to wire coil-splits properly cos I'm having trouble getting the right separation. I think I'm accidentally wiring out of phase instead! I'm currently using a circuit tester to determine which colours make a circuit, but I can't determine which is positive and which is negative. I pretty much always want to wire them in series too BTW.
Is the long part of the jackplug the earth? And the small bit goes to the middle tab of the vol pot yes?? Just checking!

Any help greatly appreciated!! Thank you muchly!!

[djhollowman]

Hi all! As promised here is my attempt at a diagram of what I've done so far:



I've labelled all the pots and their tabs for ease of reference for anyone pointing out something wrong, I thought this might help??

We could make a competition out of this! See who can spot the most mistakes, prize for winner(s) is to sort it out! Hoping for help here! Thank you!

[djhollowman]

BTW, the above diagram should really be read in conjunction with my previous post in order to understand the problems! Thanks...

[djhollowman]

Anyone, please???

[CheshireCat]

djhollowman said:

Anyone, please???

*looking*